Category: Blog
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The Design and Building Practitioners Act (DBPA) – Let’s Make it Better
An opinion piece by Charles Rickard
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The Aussie Aluminium Composite Panels (ACP) Cladding Crisis (Part II)
MELBOURNESpencer Street Tower, MelbournePhoto credit: The Age, SIMONE FOX KOOB PART II – HOW DO OWNERS HANDLE THEIR LIABILITY ARISING FROM THE EXISTENCE OF ACP ON THEIR BUILDINGS? Recently, the Lacrosse Tower fire of 2014 was in court. Judgement was found against four parties; the Builder, Architect, Fire Consultant and Principal Certifier. The largest…
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Six Key Points in Any Proposed Changes to Building Regulation
140 Sussex Street, Sydney. Designed by Rickard Engineering in 1989. As good as new in 2019. I was interested to read the view of Lynda Kypriadakis (Australian Financial Review – 13 July 2019) regarding the suggestion that we should return building control to the District Building Surveyors. The reader may be interested to know that…
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The Fall & Fall of the Australian Building Industry
CHAPTER 2: DEVELOPMENTS JANUARY-JUNE 2019 Recognising that there is a problem – Why did it take so long? • We now have two large residential tower projects which have caught the imagination of the Australian media and the Government. It is ironic that all of the endeavours in the last seven years and more to…
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Energy Efficiency in Buildings
Europe is leading the way, it’s time the rest of the world caught up! In light of the growing issue of global warming, a movement towards renewable energy sources and a goal to decrease CO2 emissions, the construction industry needs to better realise its responsibility to play its part. The building sector is responsible for…
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Can do, will do
Every company will nominate that they can design anything; very few companies can match the range of skills within the field of Civil and Structural Engineering that are offered by Rickard Engineering. Since 1984, the company has built its reputation on being a small (and therefore personalised) firm of Civil and Structural Engineers. Our…
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GRC (Glass Reinforced Concrete) is proving to be the most popular substitute for ACP (Aluminium Composite Panels)
Singapore ZOO, BIRD PARK WATERFALL Owner: Mandai Project Development A court case concerning a fire in 2014 at the Lacrosse building in Melbourne’s Docklands was recently settled on the 28 February 2019. This was the project in Australia that confirmed there were issues with ACP cladding. The terrible Grenfell Tower fire in London in June…